October 4, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Norwood hockey handles host GFS
by TOM UTESCHER

Norwood’s Dominique Nyzio (left) edges past GFS’ Melanie Mason for the ball. For more photos visit www.chlocalphotos.com. (Photos by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.)

Expanding a 1-0 halftime lead, visiting Norwood Fontbonne Academy capitalized on more of its scoring opportunities in the second half than it had in the first, recording a 6-0 win over the Germantown Friends middle school varsity last Wednesday afternoon.

Alli Sabia scored twice for the Bears, while single strikes came from her fellow eighth-graders, Anna Prestoy and Ali Stever, and from seventh-graders Dominique Nyzio and Lauren Stabler.

Due to a seventh-grade function that day, the GFS Tigers played an all-eighth grade squad. In earlier games this season, Germantown defeated Baldwin School, 4-1, and had a match with Penn Charter end in a 0-0 draw.

One of the best ways for a team to raise its level of play is to face challenging opponents, and the Tigers certainly did that last Wednesday. The NFA Bears are the defending champs in the Girls Catholic Academies League, and they opened their 2007 season with a 5-0 defeat of Gwynedd Mercy, which was the league runner-up last fall.

Longtime Norwood coach Anne Porter pointed out, “I have six returning starters from last year’s team and they’re pretty much in the same positions, so they play well together. They hustle and they’re aggressive.”

The Bears, who would defeat the Academy of Notre Dame 5-0 the day after the GFS game, have five team members playing club hockey with the highly regarded Mystx program.

“We usually play Norwood towards the end of the season,” said GFS coach Cheryl Bruttomesso. “Having this game earlier in the season is good, because we can really take this lesson and build from it.”

Norwood attacked immediately and earned its first penalty corner about two minutes into the action. Eighth grader Gabrielle Canuso made the insertions for the Bears, but on this and four subsequent corners the visitors couldn’t convert for a goal. Germantown’s Livia Jaramillo cleared out one dangerous ball, and goalkeeper Kai Davis stopped a shot from the top of the circle by NFA’s Julia Mustin.

Finally, from amidst a clump of players in front of the Tigers’ cage, Sabia put Norwood on the board seven minutes into the affair. Despite later attempts by Mustin, Sabia, and Nyzio, Germantown kept the guests from scoring for the remainder of the opening period (the halves are 20 minutes long at this level).

With about eight minutes left in the half, GFS looked to mount a rush when midfielder Morgan Ramsey drove the ball over into Bears territory, but the visitors quickly pushed the play back into their offensive half. After a sixth corner for Norwood, the intermission arrived with the score still 1-0, so just one fortuitous charge down the field by GFS could tie the game.

“Our defense was anchored by our goalkeeper; she kept us in it,” the Tigers’ Bruttomesso said in praise of Davis, who would record 11 saves in the course of the game. “She made very good saves, and she had good transition from the right to the left side of the goalcage.

“I thought Rachel [Palmer] made good decisions with the ball in the first half,” the coach went on, “and Mel [Mason] marked well in the midfield. She did a good job picking up their weak-side player, and Morgan did a nice job marking, too.”

On the Bears’ side, Stever served as the lynchpin in the midfield, helping break up the Tigers’ transition offense and preventing the hosts from penetrating far into the visitors’ end of the field. In the second half, NFA would earn eight more corners, and also would do a much better job of cashing in on its scoring chances.

“I think it’s because we were moving to the ball better,” Porter opined. “Instead of waiting for it to come to us, we went and got the ball and put it in the cage. I also think we wore them down a bit. They weren’t moving as well to the ball and that gave us more opportunities.”

After being repulsed by GFS on their first four corners, the Bears notched their second goal of the game nine minutes into the trailing half, when Ann Burgoyne drove the ball diagonally across the circle to near the right post, where Prestoy popped it into the cage. Two minutes later, an unassisted strike by Stever made it 3-0.

With about five-and-a-half minutes remaining, a series of shots and saves ended with Nyzio knocking in the fourth NFA goal, and after another two minutes went by, she drove the ball inside to set up Sabia’s second goal of the day. Stabler’s shot from high in the circle on the right side completed the scoring with a little over a minute to go.

“What I’m going to take from the game is a chance to look at our mental approach,” GFS’ Bruttomesso commented. “How did we feel when we got down one, and then down two? What can we learn about how to mentally pull yourself back into a game? If they can take that and grow from that, it’ll make them better hockey players.”